Awesome Techs

In this post I am going to write about making a usb drive bootable for installing different operating systems from it. This will be helpful in case your system doesn’t have working cd/dvd drives. But before trying this method please ensure that your system supports booting from usb. Some old systems doesn’t have this option. Also check your bios to ensure that the boo from usb option is enabled. Read more…

It been long since I added an article on to this blog entirely by writing which is not based on how to. Anyway here it is and I hope it will be worth reading for you guys.

Data Recovery, is a big issue if your hard disk has sensitive informations. Like the saying its, prevention better than cure. Here you better prevent the data loss by making sure of a updated backup for the original data. so that even i fyou loose the original data you will have the copy.

You can do this back up in several ways:

1. Using Applications such as

• Norton ghost
• Sync Back
• Acronis True image

2. Using RAID

For normal home usage first option is better. So you just have to install an application in your system and do as the manual says. Raid needs higher knowledge about computer and requires some configuration changes in hardwares.

Data Recovery(not the worst case):

If you deleted some files and removed them recycle bin also accidentally, it would be very easy to recover if you just stop using the computer. If you use the computer for a long time after the deletion, it will be very difficult to recover the data. Now The best option is boot into a live cd of either windows, linux, or any custom recovery solution. In that case the recovery wil be very easier and less time consuming.

In windows, you can use lots of applications like recuvva, ontrack easy recovery professional, etc. In this Recuvva is free and the options are very limited. Ontrack is a very professional one but you will have to pay for that application. Like this you will get lots of applications for recovering the data. One thing you have to make sure is, use a external hard disk to save the data. Do not use the same device on which the data recovery is being performed.

Now in linux also there are lots of similar tools. But if you are into linux, it better you ask the support forum for the recommended recovery application. Include the reason, and what kind of files you are trying to recover.

Data Recovery(Worst Case Scenario):

Now if your HardDisk failed and you didn’t have any backups also, then you need to try other options to get the data.

First of all let me point out something in bold and underlined.

If you don’t know what you are doing, you could lose all the data, which would have been recoverable if you didn’t try anything but give it to a professional.

You can find lots of professionals for these by a simple google search. Data recovery is a highly competitive field and there are lots of good companies which give you optimal result. But the prizes will not be cheap. For good services you will have to give good amount of money. But most of the data recovery professionals give you a free consultation. Now by this you will come to know the gravity of the situation.

So only try these kind of things, once you are sure about what you are doing.

My favorite tool is testdisk. Google search it and you will find the package to install. But you will have to try it from linux, ubuntu recommended.

TestDisk have 100s of options and configuration set ups. It will be impractical to list them all. The best part of test disk is, this application will try to find and list the previous partitions and volumes. And if you found that to be correct you can just, try to recover it.

This Wiki Community Page from ubuntu will help if you chose to try this with ubuntu. But before trying you must read through it once or twice, and clear all your doubts before starting.

even if you lost the partition from windows, do try these kind of recovery stuffs from linux only. I recommend it because the options and file system support is more in linux than in windows.

This Tutorial Explains how to install ubuntu 11.04 onto your computer. All your data and pre installed Operating Systems are safe with this method!

If you wonder how you can insert the Rupee (₹) symbol into your document, then this post is for you.

First of all the font should be installed in your system.

Windows All

If you use windows Vista or Later, You can install the official upgrade by Microsoft by visiting this link:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=2496898

Note: But as for windows XP users, the font is not official and hence you guys better not use the font from third party. Because if you use that font and you gave this document to any other person, who used vista or later or even xp who hasn’t installed your font, will not be able to see that symbol.

After installing the font you can use the key combination as give

<Press-and-hold Alt> 2 0 b 9 <Release Alt>

Linux

Ubuntu/Kubuntu 10.10 and later versions comes with the font out of the box. So you need not worry about this.
In ubuntu you can use the following key comination for the Symbol.

<Press and Hold Ctrl-Shift-u> 2 0 b 9 <Release all keys, enter>

Now you can see the font there! You can try these following methods too.

• Kubuntu 10.10: Copy-and-paste ‘₹’
• HTML: insert “₹”

Now If none of these techniques works for you, then do this.

1. Download the font from Here => Font for Rupee Symbol (₹)

2. Install the font.

3. Copy the file to C:WindowsFonts directory.(for Windows XP users) / 2. Right-click the file and choose “Install”. (for Windows 7/Vista users)

4. Press the Tild Sign in your keyboard.

I have seen lots and lots of tutorials on this, but none of them worked for me as it was never explained well. Now I did this and I am booting Ubuntu 9.10 and Mac (iAKTOS v7) fine. So I have the right and responsibility to publish this.

Step 1:

Now the first step will be downloading the image for Mac. I used iATKOS v7 as it was the first one I found while I was searching for it. So if you don’t want to take your effort and search it, just download it from here.

Magnet URL magnet link)

If the above link is not working – copy This ->

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:ce66138e8e39b9f42377002d879a485d62cabd33&dn=iATKOS_v7&tr=http%3A%2F%2Fdenis.stalker.h3q.com%3A6969%2Fannounce

Step 2:

After download completes, just  burn it to a disk. (The disk will be bootable)

Step 3:

Now you will have to create a primary partition and assign  boot flag to the partition. But creating a primary partition will defer according to the OS you are using, but basically it all are the same.

So If you are using

Windows 7 or Windows Vista

Right click My computer and select manage. Then select disk management under Storage. Now check if you have a free primary partition already. You won’t be having it in most cases. So you are going to create it now. First make a free space around 15 GB in any of the primary partitions, and Shrink the volume with free space to get a free unallocated partition of ~15GB. Then you create a new primary partition with Quick-format option and Compression enabled. Give it a proper Label, so that you will easily recognize it while installing MAC. Now right click it and make that partition Active.

Any Linux

Install GParted. Open it. Then create a primary partition with NTFS filesystem. Make it bootable( you can find the option to make it bootable in manage flags option in the right click menu for a partition).

Step 4:

Put the iATKOS v7 DVD in your dvd drive and boot from it. Before pressing “I Agree” just read the whole thing. Its not a copyright info junk. Its the Read Me for iAtkos installation. If you need, just save it by the option given to your hard-disk. Now click I Agree. Now Open the Disk Utilities and then you will find the Mac Os Primary partition you just created from your operating system. Right Click on that and select Erase. In the erasing dialogue box, select file system as Mac extended File system. And now click on erase. After erase completes,  Exit the disk utility from the utility menu which will be there on the left top corner of you monitor. Now you will be able to select the destination. Select it and click on next. Now you will see an advances/ customize button on the left bottom side of the dialogue box. Click it and you will be presented with all the drivers. Most of the systems will work with the default selection, but some does not. Here you will have to be careful. In my opinion, just select the needed drivers from network, and systems. (Only needed drivers). If you have read the I Agree part fully, you will be able to make selection without any confusion. And you may have to select the PS/2 mouse and Keyboard driver from the system drivers sub-menu, or else your keyboard and mouse may not work. Now after making customization just click ok and proceed with install. After the installation completes restart the system. Check if the Mac is working fine. If its not working you might have done something wrong with the driver selection.

By the way, be sure read the Read Me from the I Agree part. This is a must. If you messed up your system, it not my responsibility.Just take your time and read it. Or play with it some time, with all the combination of the driver sections. Now I will tell you about the Dual Boot Part.

Step 5:

This is the easiest part. Just boot into a Ubuntu 9.10 live Cd/DvD. Mount the partition with Linux installation.

Your Ubuntu partition is now mounted. You will need to use the Terminal.

Double check if your partition is correct.

mount | tail -1

You will see an output similar to this:

/dev/sda2 on /media/0d104aff-ec8c-44c8-b811-92b993823444 type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=devkit)

Use Tab Completion in Terminal to complete the path.

To make sure this is indeed the Ubuntu boot partition, run ls /media/0d104aff-ec8c-44c8-b811-92b993823444/boot, substituting 0d104aff-ec8c-44c8-b811-92b993823444 with your volume’s UUID from before, which should output something like this:

config-2.6.18-3-686      initrd.img-2.6.18-3-686.bak  System.map-2.6.18-3-686
grub                     lost+found                   vmlinuz-2.6.18-3-686
initrd.img-2.6.18-3-686  memtest86+.bin

If what you have is not similar, unmount it and try another partition.

Now that everything is mounted, we just need to reinstall GRUB by specifying the correct directory and the correct drive name:

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/0d104aff-ec8c-44c8-b811-92b993823444 /dev/sda

If you get BIOS warnings try:

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/0d104aff-ec8c-44c8-b811-92b993823444 /dev/sda --recheck

Replace /dev/sda with the location you want to install GRUB on.

If all went well, you should see something like this:

Installation finished. No error reported.
This is the contents of the device map /boot/grub/device.map.
Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect,
fix it and re-run the script `grub-install'.

(hd0)   /dev/sda

Now in terminal, just type,

 sudo update-grub

If you see your Mac OS Partition label in the output, its ok. Now if you reboot , Mac will load.

But still again if Mac doesn’t load don’t panic. We have one more way to do this.

Download This File: PC_EFI_v80

Extract it, and copy the boot_v8 file to/boot, use this command to do that,

sudo cp /pc_efi_v80/boot_v8 /boot

Now again enter the command:

sudo update-grub

Now reboot the system, while shutting down, remove the live CD, and press enter.( You will be asked to do so, so do it!)

Now there will be an option to boot from MAC if you done all the Steps in this guide.

Step 6:

Boot From MAC

Comments, feel free to ask any doubts and put any comments unless its spam.

config-2.6.18-3-686      initrd.img-2.6.18-3-686.bak  System.map-2.6.18-3-686
grub                     lost+found                   vmlinuz-2.6.18-3-686
initrd.img-2.6.18-3-686  memtest86+.bin

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/0d104aff-ec8c-44c8-b811-92b993823444 /dev/sda

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/0d104aff-ec8c-44c8-b811-92b993823444 /dev/sda --recheck

Installation finished. No error reported.
This is the contents of the device map /boot/grub/device.map.
Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect,
fix it and re-run the script `grub-install'.

(hd0)   /dev/sda

Changing the login screen of ubuntu 9.10 is somewhat different and complicated compared to other versions of ubuntu. But still we can change it the way we need it to behave. For this we will have to do some steps. Let me explain those steps here.

1. Logout of your current session and return to the GDM
2. Switch to the tty command line prompt using Ctrl-Alt-F1
3. Login using your normal login/password
4. at the command line prompt type: export DISPLAY=:0.0
5. then type: sudo -u gdm gnome-control-center
6. Switch back to the gdm screen using CTRL+ALT-F7
7. The gnome-control-center should be loaded. Use it to configure your GDM.
8. Click on the Appearances icon, in appearances you can change your GDM’s font, theme and background image.
9. Close the gnome-control-center and login normally.

These are the steps. Here in the gnome control center you can lot more than just changing the login screen.

Have any doubts? feel free to ask in comments.

credit:Ubuntu Mini